SKYWEST PLANE STOLEN, CRASHED

Authorities: Colo. murder suspect was a pilot who took empty jet

SALT LAKE CITY 
A SkyWest Airlines pilot suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend stole an empty 50-passenger jet from a small Utah airport, crashed it as he drove near a terminal, then was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said Tuesday.

Brian Hedglin, 40, used a rug to scale the razor wire-topped security fence at the St. George Municipal Airport overnight Tuesday and drove off with the SkyWest jet, St. George city spokesman Marc Mortenson said.

Hedglin clipped a wing on the terminal building and crashed into cars in a parking lot, Mortenson said. The plane never left the ground.

A police officer making rounds about 12:50 a.m. found a motorcycle with the engine running just outside the perimeter fence. As he searched the grounds for the owner, the officer came upon the idling plane and called SkyWest, Mortenson said. The airline sent an employee to turn off the engine, he said. Inside, Hedglin was found with a gunshot wound to his head.

It wasn’t clear how Hedglin was able to access the plane. Mortenson said the airport is surrounded by six miles of perimeter fencing. He noted the facility meets all Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration requirements.

SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow said Hedglin was a pilot for the airline but had been on administrative leave since July 13, the same day police found the body of his girlfriend, Christina Cornejo, 39, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Authorities responded for a welfare check at the request of her family. Authorities say she had been stabbed multiple times. The Gazette of Colorado Springs, citing court records, reported Hedglin dated Cornejo for four years and was arrested in March after police say he had been harassing her.